MANULIFE FINANCIAL $21.24 - Toronto symbol MFC

MANULIFE FINANCIAL $21.24 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $39.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.5%; www.manulife.ca) sells life and other forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment-management services. The company operates globally and has $599 billion of assets under management.

Manulife’s earnings per share rose 25.0% in the three months ended December 31, 2013, to $0.35 from $0.28 a year earlier. However, revenue declined 2.4%, to $5.92 billion from $6.07 billion. Insurance revenue fell mostly due to lower sales in Asia, where the year-earlier quarter was unusually strong ahead of tax changes. That offset higher demand for mutual funds and investment products.

Manulife has made substantial progress cutting its U.S. insurance business’s exposure to unpredictable stock markets and interest rates.

At the same time, the company continues to steadily increase its market share in Asia. Right now, about a third of Manulife’s insurance premiums come from its operations in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The stock has moved up 38% over the past year, but it still trades at just 13.1 times Manulife’s latest 12 months of earnings. It yields 2.5%.

Manulife is a hold.

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